Project: Zyrox •||• [𝐏.𝐉𝐌 X 𝐎𝐂]

-|05|-

Soon, more candidates began to fill up the chairs placed on the growing lawn. Ashlyn was a bit lost when she saw there were a total of 34 people; 4 extra candidates than there were supposed to be. Besides that, she was astonished that only 34 people managed to catch the table cloth changing, which meant over 100 candidates failed to notice it!

Shaking her head in disbelief, she tried to rest her eyes a little, hoping the migraine would ebb away; until someone poked her arm.

Never mind my migraine.

She opened her eyes to a group of three standing in front of her, radiating cheerful energy through their bubbly smiles. It was a girl with a high ponytail that poked Ash; she had almond-shaped eyes, with plump rosy lips that decorated her small face. I raised my eyebrows questioningly as they started to grin wilder. 

"I'm Kim Soyeon!" The same girl from before announced.

"I'm Amano Yui," Another girl— high chance Japanese— with jet black hair in a ponytail and cat-like eyes introduced herself. A small mole sat beneath her right eye.

"Kim Donghyun," The only male present in the trio introduced himself at the last. He had doe eyes, fluffy black hair, and full kissable lips.

"I'm Lee Ruan?" Ashlyn spoke, but it came out as a question, which made them laugh. "I-I mean yeah, I'm Lee Ruan, haha." 

"No need to be so heavy, open up!" Soyeon swung her arm around Ash's shoulder, making her stiff.

I just met you. What do you mean open up?

"Yeah," She muttered while unfolding her folded sleeves, trying to distance herself from her a bit. The other girl named Yui, giggled as she took small steps towards her, before looking at her, dead in the eyes. A slow smirk took over her cosmos thin lips as she watched Ashlyn from a distance that she was not comfortable in.

"Friends?" 

"Sure. Can you, maybe, back away a little? No offence to you, it's just that I reek of sweat right now." 

"Aw no, you don't. Come, group hug!" She motioned the neglected duo who were busy watching them. From her peripheral vision, she saw the Kim guy leering at her. Before she could question it further, a guard came in interrupting their oh-so-lovely hugging session.

"As you guys have noticed, there are extra 4 candidates in here. The extra ones are going to be eliminated in this round. Create a group of 4, with two groups consisting of 5 members; you have 5 minutes which start now." He informed before walking away.

"So... I consider us a group then?" The young lad clad in dark attire beside Ashlyn questioned.

"...Okay." As much as Ash wanted to protest, seeing their eager expressions, she gave in.

In the end, they were one of the teams that consisted of 4 members. The same guard from before gave them four a sticker labelled as #06. Ashlyn eyed the other teams as they stuck the sticker on their chest, before copying the action. Being labelled as #06 meant they had 5 more teams to go ahead of them— giving them plenty of time to prepare for the unknown test that was yet to start. Looking around, she caught team #04 and team #08 having one member extra.